The Vintage World Map Tea Towel, depicting an up-to-date colourful political map of the world. Each country is shown in vivid colours, meridians are shown at 40 degrees intervals, the Tropics & Equator are highlighted, & time zone & other geographical data are shown. This is a 100% cotton towel, 30° washable, screen printed & with a handy hanging loop. This bright tea towel comes in a tidy presentation box making an ideal gift item. ...

Turning away from privileged Victorian Britain, Gertrude Bell explored, mapped & excavated the world of the Arabs, winning the trust of Arab sheiks & chieftains along the way. When the First World War erupted & the British needed the loyalty of Arab leaders, Gertrude Bell provided the intelligence for T.E. Lawrence`s military activities. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East, & was generally considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. In this major reassessment of Bell`s life, Janet Wallach reveals a woman whose achievements & independent spirit were especially remarkable for her times, & who brought the same passion & intensity to her explorations as she did to her rich & romantic life. ...

Intricately crafted with timeless tradition, this carefully dyed sisal fiber & sweet grass wall disc is a stunning statement ...

` My favourite book about the wilderness` Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild In this shimmering masterpiece of American nature writing, Edward Abbey ventures alone into the canyonlands of Moab, Utah, to work as a seasonal ranger for the United States National Park Service. Living out of a trailer, Abbey captures in rapt, poetic prose the landscape of the desert; a world of terracotta earth, empty skies, arching rock formations, cliffrose, juniper, pinyon pine & sand sage. His summers become spirit quests, taking him in search of wild horses & Ancient Puebloan petroglyphs, up mountains & across tribal lands, & down the Glen Canyon by river. He experiences both sides of his new home; its incredible beauty & its promise of liberation, but also its isolating, cruel side, at one point discovering a dead tourist at an isolated area of the Grand Canyon. In his own irascible style, Abbey uses his time in the desert to meditate on the tension between nature & civilisation, & outlines a personal philosophy that would come to heavily influence the environmentalist movement. Now published in a special edition to celebrate its 50th Anniversary, this classic seems remarkably prescient, & has lost none of its power. ...

A unique & extraordinary collection, Desert Songs of the Night presents some of the finest poetry & prose by Arab writers, from the Arab East to Andalusia, over the last 1, 500 years. From the mystical imagery of the Qur`an & the colourful stories of The Thousand & One Nights, to the powerful verses of longing of Mahmoud Darwish & Nazik al-Mala`ika, this captivating collection

Includes:: translated excerpts of works by the major authors of the period, as well as by lesser known writers of equal significance. Desert Songs of the Night showcases the vibrant & distinctive literary heritage of the Arabs. Beautifully produced, this is the ideal book for lovers of world literature & for those who seek an acquaintance with gems of Arab thought & expression.

...

Desert Treks from Riyadh has long been the standard bestseller for desert travel from Riyadh. While it has never ceased to be used by intrepid travellers in the years since it was first printed, the book itself is now hard to find & its directions need updating with so many developments on the ground around Riyadh. We are fortunate in that Ellie Whittaker & her husb&, also long-term residents of Riyadh, have travelled every route in the book & updated every direction, &, most importantly, have added GPS coordinates to every destination. In addition to that, Jim Stabler has updated his excellent maps. So we are republishing the book with Ionis Thompson`s trip descriptions also brought more up-to-date, to encourage the modern trekker to explore further the lovely wadis, sand dunes & ancient sites that lie within reach of the city of Riyadh. ...

Desert takes a fresh look at one of the most signi?cant natural aspects of our planet, as both a geographical feature & a cultural entity. It examines & often overturns our common notions about deserts, from the fear of desolation & death of thirst on the one h&, to the attraction of the exotic, adventure & freedom on the other. The book considers the immense geographical diversity of deserts from the Sahara to Antarctica, & describes how plants & animals have adapted to these hostile environments in intriguing & often bizarre ways. Diverse races have also inhabited deserts & evolved unique lifestyles & cultures in response to their environments. Desert also asks why all three of the world`s great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity & Islam, originated in the deserts of the Middle East, & traces the continuing connections between the minimal materialism of desert existence & the pursuit of a spiritual dimension. Deserts have also long exerted an allure on the West, leading to the impetus for exploration, the fascination with travellers` tales & the fashion for Orientalism in art, architecture & dress. Desert also reviews the signi?cance of desolate landscapes in literature & ?lm & looks at artists` responses to the desert, from seeing it as empty space, devoid of interest or perspective, to devising new visual techniques through which to `see` it. ...

Villages have been abandoned throughout history, & in every part of the British Isles. Some of them are former towns; others were only ever small hamlets. Many still await discovery. This book explains how villages have become deserted
- often the result of disease & shrinking populations
- & describes how the archaeologist recovers & interprets the evidence & shows how everyone can become involved in discovering & recording sites. Some good examples of sites worth visiting are included.

...

The extraordinary story of the deserters of the Second World War. What made them run? & what happened after they fled? During the Second World War, the British lost 100, 000 troops to desertion, & the Americans 40, 000. Commonwealth forces from Canada, Australia, New Zeal&, South Africa & Britain`s colonial empire also left the ranks in their thousands. The overwhelming majority of deserters from all armies were front-line infantry troops; without them, the war was harder to win. Many of these men were captured & court martialled, while others were never apprehended. Some remain wanted to this day. Why did these men decide to flee their ranks? In ` Deserter`, veteran reporter & historian Charles Glass follows a group of British & American deserters into the heat of battle & explores what motivated them to take their fateful decision to run away. The result is a highly emotional & engaging study of an under-explored area of World War II history. ...

A poet, a gangster & an agent of the Resistance; ` Deserter` details three astonishing lives shaped by the decision to flee during WWII. During the Second World War, the British lost 100, 000 troops to desertion, & the Americans 50, 000. Commonwealth forces from Canada, Australia, New Zeal&, South Africa & Britain`s colonial empire also left the ranks in their thousands. But, surprisingly, only one WWII deserter was executed for his crime. In ` Deserter`, veteran reporter & historian Charles Glass gives voice to the powerful stories of three soldiers, two Americans & one Brit, who all ran from the conflict to meet with distinctly different fates. He follows each into the heat of battle, exploring the pressures that formed their decisions & the lasting impact of their choices. The result is a highly emotional & engaging study of an under-explored area of World War II history. ...